Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.—Part III.

The manly pride of the Romans, content with substantial power, had
left to the vanity of the East the forms and ceremonies of ostentatious
greatness.19721972 Scilicet externae superbiae sueto, non inerat notitia nostri, (perhaps nostroe;) apud quos vis Imperii valet, inania transmittuntur.
Tacit. Annal. xv. 31. The gradation from the style of freedom and simplicity, to that of form and servitude, may be traced
in the Epistles of Cicero, of Pliny, and of Symmachus.
But when they lost even the semblance of those virtues
which were derived from their ancient freedom, the simplicity of Roman
manners was insensibly corrupted by the stately affectation of the
courts of Asia. The distinctions of personal merit and influence, so
conspicuous in a republic, so feeble and obscure under a monarchy, were
abolished by the despotism of the emperors; who substituted in their
room a severe subordination of rank and office from the titled slaves
who were seated on the steps of the throne, to the meanest instruments
of arbitrary power. This multitude of abject dependants was interested
in the support of the actual government from the dread of a revolution,
which might at once confound their hopes and intercept the reward of
their services. In this divine hierarchy (for such it is frequently
styled) every rank was marked with the most scrupulous exactness,
and its dignity was displayed in a variety of trifling and solemn
ceremonies, which it was a study to learn, and a sacrilege to neglect.
19731973 The emperor Gratian, after confirming a law of precedency published by Valentinian, the father of his Divinity, thus continues:
Siquis igitur indebitum sibi locum usurpaverit, nulla se ignoratione defendat; sitque plane sacrilegii reus, qui divina praecepta
neglexerit. Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. v. leg. 2.
The purity of the Latin language was debased, by adopting, in the
intercourse of pride and flattery, a profusion of epithets, which Tully
would scarcely have understood, and which Augustus would have rejected
with indignation. The principal officers of the empire were saluted,
even by the sovereign himself, with the deceitful titles of your
Sincerity, your Gravity, your Excellency, your Eminence, your sublime
and wonderful Magnitude, your illustrious and magnificent Highness.19741974 Consult the Notitia Dignitatum at the end of the Theodosian code, tom. vi. p. 316. * Note: Constantin, qui remplaca le grand
Patriciat par une noblesse titree et qui changea avec d'autres institutions la nature de la societe Latine, est le veritable
fondateur de la royaute moderne, dans ce quelle conserva de Romain. Chateaubriand, Etud. Histor. Preface, i. 151. Manso, (Leben
Constantins des Grossen,) p. 153, &c., has given a lucid view of the dignities and duties of the officers in the Imperial
court.—M.
The codicils or patents of their office were curiously emblazoned
with such emblems as were best adapted to explain its nature and high
dignity; the image or portrait of the reigning emperors; a triumphal
car; the book of mandates placed on a table, covered with a rich carpet,
and illuminated by four tapers; the allegorical figures of the provinces
which they governed; or the appellations and standards of the troops
whom they commanded Some of these official ensigns were really exhibited
in their hall of audience; others preceded their pompous march whenever
they appeared in public; and every circumstance of their demeanor, their
dress, their ornaments, and their train, was calculated to inspire
a deep reverence for the representatives of supreme majesty. By a
philosophic observer, the system of the Roman government might have been
mistaken for a splendid theatre, filled with players of every character
and degree, who repeated the language, and imitated the passions, of
their original model.19751975 Pancirolus ad Notitiam utriusque Imperii, p. 39. But his explanations are obscure, and he does not sufficiently distinguish
the painted emblems from the effective ensigns of office.

All the magistrates of sufficient importance to find a place in the
general state of the empire, were accurately divided into three classes.
1. The Illustrious. 2. The Spectabiles, or Respectable. And, 3. the
Clarissimi; whom we may translate by the word Honorable. In the times
of Roman simplicity, the last-mentioned epithet was used only as a
vague expression of deference, till it became at length the peculiar
and appropriated title of all who were members of the senate,19761976 In the Pandects, which may be referred to the reigns of the Antonines, Clarissimus is the ordinary and legal title of a senator.
and
consequently of all who, from that venerable body, were selected to
govern the provinces. The vanity of those who, from their rank and
office, might claim a superior distinction above the rest of the
senatorial order, was long afterwards indulged with the new appellation
of Respectable; but the title of Illustrious was always reserved to some
eminent personages who were obeyed or reverenced by the two subordinate
classes. It was communicated only, I. To the consuls and patricians;
II. To the Praetorian praefects, with the praefects of Rome and
Constantinople; III. To the masters-general of the cavalry and the
infantry; and IV. To the seven ministers of the palace, who exercised
their sacred functions about the person of the emperor.19771977 Pancirol. p. 12-17. I have not taken any notice of the two inferior ranks, Prefectissimus and Egregius, which were given
to many persons who were not raised to the senatorial dignity.
Among those
illustrious magistrates who were esteemed coordinate with each other,
the seniority of appointment gave place to the union of dignities.19781978 Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. vi. The rules of precedency are ascertained with the most minute accuracy by the emperors, and
illustrated with equal prolixity by their learned interpreter.
By the expedient of honorary codicils, the emperors, who were fond of
multiplying their favors, might sometimes gratify the vanity, though not
the ambition, of impatient courtiers.19791979 Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. xxii.

I. As long as the Roman consuls were the first magistrates of a free
state, they derived their right to power from the choice of the people.
As long as the emperors condescended to disguise the servitude which
they imposed, the consuls were still elected by the real or apparent
suffrage of the senate. From the reign of Diocletian, even these
vestiges of liberty were abolished, and the successful candidates who
were invested with the annual honors of the consulship, affected to
deplore the humiliating condition of their predecessors. The Scipios and
the Catos had been reduced to solicit the votes of plebeians, to pass
through the tedious and expensive forms of a popular election, and to
expose their dignity to the shame of a public refusal; while their own
happier fate had reserved them for an age and government in which the
rewards of virtue were assigned by the unerring wisdom of a gracious
sovereign.19801980 Ausonius (in Gratiarum Actione) basely expatiates on this unworthy topic, which is managed by Mamertinus (Panegyr. Vet. xi.
[x.] 16, 19) with somewhat more freedom and ingenuity.
In the epistles which the emperor addressed to the
two consuls elect, it was declared, that they were created by his sole
authority.19811981 Cum de Consulibus in annum creandis, solus mecum volutarem.... te Consulem et designavi, et declaravi, et priorem nuncupavi;
are some of the expressions employed by the emperor Gratian to his preceptor, the poet Ausonius.
Their names and portraits, engraved on gilt tables of
ivory, were dispersed over the empire as presents to the provinces, the
cities, the magistrates, the senate, and the people.19821982 Immanesque... dentes Qui secti ferro in tabulas auroque micantes, Inscripti rutilum coelato Consule nomen Per proceres et
vulgus eant. —Claud. in ii. Cons. Stilichon. 456.
Their solemn
inauguration was performed at the place of the Imperial residence; and
during a period of one hundred and twenty years, Rome was constantly
deprived of the presence of her ancient magistrates.19831983 Consule laetatur post plurima seculo viso Pallanteus apex: agnoscunt rostra curules Auditas quondam proavis: desuetaque cingit
Regius auratis Fora fascibus Ulpia lictor. —Claud. in vi. Cons. Honorii, 643. From the reign of Carus to the sixth consulship of Honorius, there was an interval of one hundred and twenty years, during
which the emperors were always absent from Rome on the first day of January. See the Chronologie de Tillemonte, tom. iii.
iv. and v.

Montfaucon has represented some of these tablets or dypticks see
Supplement a l'Antiquite expliquee, tom. iii. p. 220.]

On the morning of the first of January, the consuls assumed the ensigns
of their dignity. Their dress was a robe of purple, embroidered in silk
and gold, and sometimes ornamented with costly gems.19841984 See Claudian in Cons. Prob. et Olybrii, 178, &c.; and in iv. Cons. Honorii, 585, &c.; though in the latter it is not easy
to separate the ornaments of the emperor from those of the consul. Ausonius received from the liberality of Gratian a vestis
palmata, or robe of state, in which the figure of the emperor Constantius was embroidered.
On this solemn
occasion they were attended by the most eminent officers of the state
and army, in the habit of senators; and the useless fasces, armed with
the once formidable axes, were borne before them by the lictors.19851985 Cernis et armorum proceres legumque potentes: Patricios sumunt habitus; et more Gabino Discolor incedit legio, positisque
parumper Bellorum signis, sequitur vexilla Quirini. Lictori cedunt aquilae, ridetque togatus Miles, et in mediis effulget
curia castris. —Claud. in iv. Cons. Honorii, 5. —strictaque procul radiare secures. —In Cons. Prob. 229
The procession moved from the palace19861986 See Valesius ad Ammian. Marcellin. l. xxii. c. 7.
to the Forum or principal
square of the city; where the consuls ascended their tribunal, and
seated themselves in the curule chairs, which were framed after
the fashion of ancient times. They immediately exercised an act of
jurisdiction, by the manumission of a slave, who was brought before
them for that purpose; and the ceremony was intended to represent the
celebrated action of the elder Brutus, the author of liberty and of
the consulship, when he admitted among his fellow-citizens the faithful
Vindex, who had revealed the conspiracy of the Tarquins.19871987 Auspice mox laeto sonuit clamore tribunal; Te fastos ineunte quater; solemnia ludit Omina libertas; deductum Vindice morem
Lex servat, famulusque jugo laxatus herili Ducitur, et grato remeat securior ictu. —Claud. in iv Cons. Honorii, 611
The public
festival was continued during several days in all the principal cities
in Rome, from custom; in Constantinople, from imitation in Carthage,
Antioch, and Alexandria, from the love of pleasure, and the superfluity
of wealth.19881988 Celebrant quidem solemnes istos dies omnes ubique urbes quae sub legibus agunt; et Roma de more, et Constantinopolis de imitatione,
et Antiochia pro luxu, et discincta Carthago, et domus fluminis Alexandria, sed Treviri Principis beneficio. Ausonius in Grat.
Actione.
In the two capitals of the empire the annual games of
the theatre, the circus, and the amphitheatre,19891989 Claudian (in Cons. Mall. Theodori, 279-331) describes, in a lively and fanciful manner, the various games of the circus,
the theatre, and the amphitheatre, exhibited by the new consul. The sanguinary combats of gladiators had already been prohibited.
cost four thousand
pounds of gold, (about) one hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling:
and if so heavy an expense surpassed the faculties or the inclinations
of the magistrates themselves, the sum was supplied from the Imperial
treasury.19901990 Procopius in Hist. Arcana, c. 26.
As soon as the consuls had discharged these customary
duties, they were at liberty to retire into the shade of private
life, and to enjoy, during the remainder of the year, the undisturbed
contemplation of their own greatness. They no longer presided in the
national councils; they no longer executed the resolutions of peace
or war. Their abilities (unless they were employed in more effective
offices) were of little moment; and their names served only as the legal
date of the year in which they had filled the chair of Marius and of
Cicero. Yet it was still felt and acknowledged, in the last period
of Roman servitude, that this empty name might be compared, and even
preferred, to the possession of substantial power. The title of consul
was still the most splendid object of ambition, the noblest reward of
virtue and loyalty. The emperors themselves, who disdained the faint
shadow of the republic, were conscious that they acquired an additional
splendor and majesty as often as they assumed the annual honors of the
consular dignity.19911991 In Consulatu honos sine labore suscipitur. (Mamertin. in Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.] 2.) This exalted idea of the consulship is
borrowed from an oration (iii. p. 107) pronounced by Julian in the servile court of Constantius. See the Abbe de la Bleterie,
(Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxiv. p. 289,) who delights to pursue the vestiges of the old constitution, and who sometimes
finds them in his copious fancy

The proudest and most perfect separation which can be found in any age
or country, between the nobles and the people, is perhaps that of the
Patricians and the Plebeians, as it was established in the first age of
the Roman republic. Wealth and honors, the offices of the state, and the
ceremonies of religion, were almost exclusively possessed by the former
who, preserving the purity of their blood with the most insulting
jealousy,19921992 Intermarriages between the Patricians and Plebeians were prohibited by the laws of the XII Tables; and the uniform operations
of human nature may attest that the custom survived the law. See in Livy (iv. 1-6) the pride of family urged by the consul,
and the rights of mankind asserted by the tribune Canuleius.
held their clients in a condition of specious vassalage.
But these distinctions, so incompatible with the spirit of a free
people, were removed, after a long struggle, by the persevering efforts
of the Tribunes. The most active and successful of the Plebeians
accumulated wealth, aspired to honors, deserved triumphs, contracted
alliances, and, after some generations, assumed the pride of ancient
nobility.19931993 See the animated picture drawn by Sallust, in the Jugurthine war, of the pride of the nobles, and even of the virtuous Metellus,
who was unable to brook the idea that the honor of the consulship should be bestowed on the obscure merit of his lieutenant
Marius. (c. 64.) Two hundred years before, the race of the Metelli themselves were confounded among the Plebeians of Rome;
and from the etymology of their name of Coecilius, there is reason to believe that those haughty nobles derived their origin
from a sutler.
The Patrician families, on the other hand, whose original
number was never recruited till the end of the commonwealth, either
failed in the ordinary course of nature, or were extinguished in so
many foreign and domestic wars, or, through a want of merit or fortune,
insensibly mingled with the mass of the people.19941994 In the year of Rome 800, very few remained, not only of the old Patrician families, but even of those which had been created
by Caesar and Augustus. (Tacit. Annal. xi. 25.) The family of Scaurus (a branch of the Patrician Aemilii) was degraded so
low that his father, who exercised the trade of a charcoal merchant, left him only teu slaves, and somewhat less than three
hundred pounds sterling. (Valerius Maximus, l. iv. c. 4, n. 11. Aurel. Victor in Scauro.) The family was saved from oblivion
by the merit of the son.
Very few remained
who could derive their pure and genuine origin from the infancy of
the city, or even from that of the republic, when Caesar and Augustus,
Claudius and Vespasian, created from the body of the senate a competent
number of new Patrician families, in the hope of perpetuating an order,
which was still considered as honorable and sacred.19951995 Tacit. Annal. xi. 25. Dion Cassius, l. iii. p. 698. The virtues of Agricola, who was created a Patrician by the emperor Vespasian,
reflected honor on that ancient order; but his ancestors had not any claim beyond an Equestrian nobility.
But these
artificial supplies (in which the reigning house was always included)
were rapidly swept away by the rage of tyrants, by frequent revolutions,
by the change of manners, and by the intermixture of nations.19961996 This failure would have been almost impossible if it were true, as Casaubon compels Aurelius Victor to affirm (ad Sueton,
in Caesar v. 24. See Hist. August p. 203 and Casaubon Comment., p. 220) that Vespasian created at once a thousand Patrician
families. But this extravagant number is too much even for the whole Senatorial order. unless we should include all the Roman
knights who were distinguished by the permission of wearing the laticlave.
Little more was left when Constantine ascended the throne, than a vague
and imperfect tradition, that the Patricians had once been the first
of the Romans. To form a body of nobles, whose influence may restrain,
while it secures the authority of the monarch, would have been very
inconsistent with the character and policy of Constantine; but had he
seriously entertained such a design, it might have exceeded the measure
of his power to ratify, by an arbitrary edict, an institution which
must expect the sanction of time and of opinion. He revived, indeed,
the title of Patricians, but he revived it as a personal, not as an
hereditary distinction. They yielded only to the transient superiority
of the annual consuls; but they enjoyed the pre-eminence over all the
great officers of state, with the most familiar access to the person of
the prince. This honorable rank was bestowed on them for life; and as
they were usually favorites, and ministers who had grown old in
the Imperial court, the true etymology of the word was perverted
by ignorance and flattery; and the Patricians of Constantine were
reverenced as the adopted Fathers of the emperor and the republic.19971997 Zosimus, l. ii. p. 118; and Godefroy ad Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. vi.

II. The fortunes of the Praetorian praefects were essentially different
from those of the consuls and Patricians. The latter saw their ancient
greatness evaporate in a vain title.

The former, rising by degrees from the most humble condition, were
invested with the civil and military administration of the Roman world.
From the reign of Severus to that of Diocletian, the guards and the
palace, the laws and the finances, the armies and the provinces, were
intrusted to their superintending care; and, like the Viziers of the
East, they held with one hand the seal, and with the other the standard,
of the empire. The ambition of the praefects, always formidable, and
sometimes fatal to the masters whom they served, was supported by the
strength of the Praetorian bands; but after those haughty troops had
been weakened by Diocletian, and finally suppressed by Constantine, the
praefects, who survived their fall, were reduced without difficulty to
the station of useful and obedient ministers. When they were no longer
responsible for the safety of the emperor's person, they resigned the
jurisdiction which they had hitherto claimed and exercised over all
the departments of the palace. They were deprived by Constantine of all
military command, as soon as they had ceased to lead into the field,
under their immediate orders, the flower of the Roman troops; and
at length, by a singular revolution, the captains of the guards were
transformed into the civil magistrates of the provinces. According to
the plan of government instituted by Diocletian, the four princes had
each their Praetorian praefect; and after the monarchy was once more
united in the person of Constantine, he still continued to create the
same number of Four Praefects, and intrusted to their care the same
provinces which they already administered. 1. The praefect of the East
stretched his ample jurisdiction into the three parts of the globe which
were subject to the Romans, from the cataracts of the Nile to the banks
of the Phasis, and from the mountains of Thrace to the frontiers of
Persia. 2. The important provinces of Pannonia, Dacia, Macedonia, and
Greece, once acknowledged the authority of the praefect of Illyricum. 3.
The power of the praefect of Italy was not confined to the country from
whence he derived his title; it extended over the additional territory
of Rhaetia as far as the banks of the Danube, over the dependent islands
of the Mediterranean, and over that part of the continent of Africa
which lies between the confines of Cyrene and those of Tingitania. 4.
The praefect of the Gauls comprehended under that plural denomination
the kindred provinces of Britain and Spain, and his authority was obeyed
from the wall of Antoninus to the foot of Mount Atlas.19981998 Zosimus, l. ii. p. 109, 110. If we had not fortunately possessed this satisfactory account of the division of the power and
provinces of the Praetorian praefects, we should frequently have been perplexed amidst the copious details of the Code, and
the circumstantial minuteness of the Notitia.

After the Praetorian praefects had been dismissed from all military
command, the civil functions which they were ordained to exercise over
so many subject nations, were adequate to the ambition and abilities of
the most consummate ministers. To their wisdom was committed the supreme
administration of justice and of the finances, the two objects which,
in a state of peace, comprehend almost all the respective duties of the
sovereign and of the people; of the former, to protect the citizens
who are obedient to the laws; of the latter, to contribute the share
of their property which is required for the expenses of the state. The
coin, the highways, the posts, the granaries, the manufactures, whatever
could interest the public prosperity, was moderated by the authority
of the Praetorian praefects. As the immediate representatives of the
Imperial majesty, they were empowered to explain, to enforce, and on
some occasions to modify, the general edicts by their discretionary
proclamations. They watched over the conduct of the provincial
governors, removed the negligent, and inflicted punishments on the
guilty. From all the inferior jurisdictions, an appeal in every matter
of importance, either civil or criminal, might be brought before the
tribunal of the praefect; but his sentence was final and absolute; and
the emperors themselves refused to admit any complaints against the
judgment or the integrity of a magistrate whom they honored with such
unbounded confidence.19991999 See a law of Constantine himself. A praefectis autem praetorio provocare, non sinimus. Cod. Justinian. l. vii. tit. lxii.
leg. 19. Charisius, a lawyer of the time of Constantine, (Heinec. Hist. Romani, p. 349,) who admits this law as a fundamental
principle of jurisprudence, compares the Praetorian praefects to the masters of the horse of the ancient dictators. Pandect.
l. i. tit. xi.
His appointments were suitable to his
dignity;20002000 When Justinian, in the exhausted condition of the empire, instituted a Praetorian praefect for Africa, he allowed him a salary
of one hundred pounds of gold. Cod. Justinian. l. i. tit. xxvii. leg. i.
and if avarice was his ruling passion, he enjoyed
frequent opportunities of collecting a rich harvest of fees, of
presents, and of perquisites. Though the emperors no longer dreaded the
ambition of their praefects, they were attentive to counterbalance
the power of this great office by the uncertainty and shortness of its
duration.20012001 For this, and the other dignities of the empire, it may be sufficient to refer to the ample commentaries of Pancirolus and
Godefroy, who have diligently collected and accurately digested in their proper order all the legal and historical materials.
From those authors, Dr. Howell (History of the World, vol. ii. p. 24-77) has deduced a very distinct abridgment of the state
of the Roman empire

From their superior importance and dignity, Rome and Constantinople were
alone excepted from the jurisdiction of the Praetorian praefects. The
immense size of the city, and the experience of the tardy, ineffectual
operation of the laws, had furnished the policy of Augustus with a
specious pretence for introducing a new magistrate, who alone could
restrain a servile and turbulent populace by the strong arm of arbitrary
power.20022002 Tacit. Annal. vi. 11. Euseb. in Chron. p. 155. Dion Cassius, in the oration of Maecenas, (l. lvii. p. 675,) describes the
prerogatives of the praefect of the city as they were established in his own time.
Valerius Messalla was appointed the first praefect of Rome,
that his reputation might countenance so invidious a measure; but, at
the end of a few days, that accomplished citizen20032003 The fame of Messalla has been scarcely equal to his merit. In the earliest youth he was recommended by Cicero to the friendship
of Brutus. He followed the standard of the republic till it was broken in the fields of Philippi; he then accepted and deserved
the favor of the most moderate of the conquerors; and uniformly asserted his freedom and dignity in the court of Augustus.
The triumph of Messalla was justified by the conquest of Aquitain. As an orator, he disputed the palm of eloquence with Cicero
himself. Messalla cultivated every muse, and was the patron of every man of genius. He spent his evenings in philosophic conversation
with Horace; assumed his place at table between Delia and Tibullus; and amused his leisure by encouraging the poetical talents
of young Ovid.
resigned his
office, declaring, with a spirit worthy of the friend of Brutus, that he
found himself incapable of exercising a power incompatible with public
freedom.20042004 Incivilem esse potestatem contestans, says the translator of Eusebius. Tacitus expresses the same idea in other words; quasi
nescius exercendi.
As the sense of liberty became less exquisite, the
advantages of order were more clearly understood; and the praefect, who
seemed to have been designed as a terror only to slaves and vagrants,
was permitted to extend his civil and criminal jurisdiction over the
equestrian and noble families of Rome. The praetors, annually created as
the judges of law and equity, could not long dispute the possession
of the Forum with a vigorous and permanent magistrate, who was usually
admitted into the confidence of the prince. Their courts were deserted,
their number, which had once fluctuated between twelve and eighteen,
20052005 See Lipsius, Excursus D. ad 1 lib. Tacit. Annal.
was gradually reduced to two or three, and their important
functions were confined to the expensive obligation20062006 Heineccii. Element. Juris Civilis secund ordinem Pandect i. p. 70. See, likewise, Spanheim de Usu. Numismatum, tom. ii. dissertat.
x. p. 119. In the year 450, Marcian published a law, that three citizens should be annually created Praetors of Constantinople
by the choice of the senate, but with their own consent. Cod. Justinian. li. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 2.
of exhibiting
games for the amusement of the people. After the office of the Roman
consuls had been changed into a vain pageant, which was rarely displayed
in the capital, the praefects assumed their vacant place in the senate,
and were soon acknowledged as the ordinary presidents of that venerable
assembly. They received appeals from the distance of one hundred miles;
and it was allowed as a principle of jurisprudence, that all municipal
authority was derived from them alone.20072007 Quidquid igitur intra urbem admittitur, ad P. U. videtur pertinere; sed et siquid intra contesimum milliarium. Ulpian in
Pandect l. i. tit. xiii. n. 1. He proceeds to enumerate the various offices of the praefect, who, in the code of Justinian,
(l. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 3,) is declared to precede and command all city magistrates sine injuria ac detrimento honoris alieni.
In the discharge of his
laborious employment, the governor of Rome was assisted by fifteen
officers, some of whom had been originally his equals, or even his
superiors. The principal departments were relative to the command of a
numerous watch, established as a safeguard against fires, robberies,
and nocturnal disorders; the custody and distribution of the public
allowance of corn and provisions; the care of the port, of the
aqueducts, of the common sewers, and of the navigation and bed of the
Tyber; the inspection of the markets, the theatres, and of the private
as well as the public works. Their vigilance insured the three principal
objects of a regular police, safety, plenty, and cleanliness; and as
a proof of the attention of government to preserve the splendor and
ornaments of the capital, a particular inspector was appointed for the
statues; the guardian, as it were, of that inanimate people, which,
according to the extravagant computation of an old writer, was scarcely
inferior in number to the living inhabitants of Rome. About thirty years
after the foundation of Constantinople, a similar magistrate was created
in that rising metropolis, for the same uses and with the same powers.
A perfect equality was established between the dignity of the two
municipal, and that of the four Praetorian praefects.20082008 Besides our usual guides, we may observe that Felix Cantelorius has written a separate treatise, De Praefecto Urbis; and
that many curious details concerning the police of Rome and Constantinople are contained in the fourteenth book of the Theodosian
Code.

1972 Scilicet externae superbiae sueto, non inerat notitia nostri, (perhaps nostroe;) apud quos vis Imperii valet, inania transmittuntur.
Tacit. Annal. xv. 31. The gradation from the style of freedom and simplicity, to that of form and servitude, may be traced
in the Epistles of Cicero, of Pliny, and of Symmachus.

1983 Consule laetatur post plurima seculo viso Pallanteus apex: agnoscunt rostra curules Auditas quondam proavis: desuetaque cingit
Regius auratis Fora fascibus Ulpia lictor. —Claud. in vi. Cons. Honorii, 643. From the reign of Carus to the sixth consulship of Honorius, there was an interval of one hundred and twenty years, during
which the emperors were always absent from Rome on the first day of January. See the Chronologie de Tillemonte, tom. iii.
iv. and v.

1984 See Claudian in Cons. Prob. et Olybrii, 178, &c.; and in iv. Cons. Honorii, 585, &c.; though in the latter it is not easy
to separate the ornaments of the emperor from those of the consul. Ausonius received from the liberality of Gratian a vestis
palmata, or robe of state, in which the figure of the emperor Constantius was embroidered.

1989 Claudian (in Cons. Mall. Theodori, 279-331) describes, in a lively and fanciful manner, the various games of the circus,
the theatre, and the amphitheatre, exhibited by the new consul. The sanguinary combats of gladiators had already been prohibited.

1991 In Consulatu honos sine labore suscipitur. (Mamertin. in Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.] 2.) This exalted idea of the consulship is
borrowed from an oration (iii. p. 107) pronounced by Julian in the servile court of Constantius. See the Abbe de la Bleterie,
(Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxiv. p. 289,) who delights to pursue the vestiges of the old constitution, and who sometimes
finds them in his copious fancy

1992 Intermarriages between the Patricians and Plebeians were prohibited by the laws of the XII Tables; and the uniform operations
of human nature may attest that the custom survived the law. See in Livy (iv. 1-6) the pride of family urged by the consul,
and the rights of mankind asserted by the tribune Canuleius.

1993 See the animated picture drawn by Sallust, in the Jugurthine war, of the pride of the nobles, and even of the virtuous Metellus,
who was unable to brook the idea that the honor of the consulship should be bestowed on the obscure merit of his lieutenant
Marius. (c. 64.) Two hundred years before, the race of the Metelli themselves were confounded among the Plebeians of Rome;
and from the etymology of their name of Coecilius, there is reason to believe that those haughty nobles derived their origin
from a sutler.

1994 In the year of Rome 800, very few remained, not only of the old Patrician families, but even of those which had been created
by Caesar and Augustus. (Tacit. Annal. xi. 25.) The family of Scaurus (a branch of the Patrician Aemilii) was degraded so
low that his father, who exercised the trade of a charcoal merchant, left him only teu slaves, and somewhat less than three
hundred pounds sterling. (Valerius Maximus, l. iv. c. 4, n. 11. Aurel. Victor in Scauro.) The family was saved from oblivion
by the merit of the son.

1995 Tacit. Annal. xi. 25. Dion Cassius, l. iii. p. 698. The virtues of Agricola, who was created a Patrician by the emperor Vespasian,
reflected honor on that ancient order; but his ancestors had not any claim beyond an Equestrian nobility.

1996 This failure would have been almost impossible if it were true, as Casaubon compels Aurelius Victor to affirm (ad Sueton,
in Caesar v. 24. See Hist. August p. 203 and Casaubon Comment., p. 220) that Vespasian created at once a thousand Patrician
families. But this extravagant number is too much even for the whole Senatorial order. unless we should include all the Roman
knights who were distinguished by the permission of wearing the laticlave.

1998 Zosimus, l. ii. p. 109, 110. If we had not fortunately possessed this satisfactory account of the division of the power and
provinces of the Praetorian praefects, we should frequently have been perplexed amidst the copious details of the Code, and
the circumstantial minuteness of the Notitia.

1999 See a law of Constantine himself. A praefectis autem praetorio provocare, non sinimus. Cod. Justinian. l. vii. tit. lxii.
leg. 19. Charisius, a lawyer of the time of Constantine, (Heinec. Hist. Romani, p. 349,) who admits this law as a fundamental
principle of jurisprudence, compares the Praetorian praefects to the masters of the horse of the ancient dictators. Pandect.
l. i. tit. xi.

2000 When Justinian, in the exhausted condition of the empire, instituted a Praetorian praefect for Africa, he allowed him a salary
of one hundred pounds of gold. Cod. Justinian. l. i. tit. xxvii. leg. i.

2001 For this, and the other dignities of the empire, it may be sufficient to refer to the ample commentaries of Pancirolus and
Godefroy, who have diligently collected and accurately digested in their proper order all the legal and historical materials.
From those authors, Dr. Howell (History of the World, vol. ii. p. 24-77) has deduced a very distinct abridgment of the state
of the Roman empire

2002 Tacit. Annal. vi. 11. Euseb. in Chron. p. 155. Dion Cassius, in the oration of Maecenas, (l. lvii. p. 675,) describes the
prerogatives of the praefect of the city as they were established in his own time.

2003 The fame of Messalla has been scarcely equal to his merit. In the earliest youth he was recommended by Cicero to the friendship
of Brutus. He followed the standard of the republic till it was broken in the fields of Philippi; he then accepted and deserved
the favor of the most moderate of the conquerors; and uniformly asserted his freedom and dignity in the court of Augustus.
The triumph of Messalla was justified by the conquest of Aquitain. As an orator, he disputed the palm of eloquence with Cicero
himself. Messalla cultivated every muse, and was the patron of every man of genius. He spent his evenings in philosophic conversation
with Horace; assumed his place at table between Delia and Tibullus; and amused his leisure by encouraging the poetical talents
of young Ovid.

2006 Heineccii. Element. Juris Civilis secund ordinem Pandect i. p. 70. See, likewise, Spanheim de Usu. Numismatum, tom. ii. dissertat.
x. p. 119. In the year 450, Marcian published a law, that three citizens should be annually created Praetors of Constantinople
by the choice of the senate, but with their own consent. Cod. Justinian. li. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 2.

2008 Besides our usual guides, we may observe that Felix Cantelorius has written a separate treatise, De Praefecto Urbis; and
that many curious details concerning the police of Rome and Constantinople are contained in the fourteenth book of the Theodosian
Code.